Apple releases third beta of iOS 7.1 with iCloud, audiobook fixes

Apple on Tuesday supplied developers with its third pre-release beta of iOS 7.1, a forthcoming update for its mobile operating system, with the latest build bringing fixes for creating a new iCloud account, as well as playing back audio books.

People familiar with the software indicated it is identified as "Build 11D5127c." It is available to download from Apple's developer website, as well as over the air on test devices, but is not intended for general public use.

The third beta of iOS 7.1 is said to fix an issue that could arrise when creating a new iCloud account during setup. In addition, the latest build reportedly no longer gives an error when users enable iCloud Keychain.

In addition, Apple also fixed an issue in iOS 7.1 that could cause problems when listening to audiobooks on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

The software is not yet ready for primetime, however, as people familiar with the latest build said that Apple has informed developers that a handful of known issues remain. For example, 32-bit Bluetooth applications on 64-bit devices, like the iPhone 5s or latest iPads, do not work properly.

An error is also said to remain in which the Messages application sometimes indicates an iMessage send failure immediately after sending. Developers can work around this by tapping the error icon to re-send the message.

Previously, Apple provided developers with the second beta of iOS 7.1 in mid-December, addressing bugs related to iTunes Match, and also making it easier to access Touch ID settings on the iPhone 5s.

This better darn well fix (insert favorite pet peeve, issue that only I have, feature I need to function in life, Android feature they've had for years) or I'm dumping Apple. Don't they test this stuff? Apple's QA has gone south since Steve died. I might just buy a Galaxy over this.

I hope they fix the UI for unlocking your phone, the glow effect is too long and it becomes easy for anyone who's casually looking at your phone to figure it out. Really annoying!

I also wish they'd do something about the video player's UI, and the retarded iPad's calendar UI. Whoever thought that creating small month labels and fading them in and out is a good idea?

I am not a big fan of skeuomorphism; however, I preferred the clarity of the previous UI compared to this overly subtle UI which is closer to looking like a mistake than a feature. Like scrolling through the SMS messages, that's not a bouncing effect, or is it?

Unfortunately animations are still terribly slow. There is no reason for this, other than Apple wants it this way.

Evidence: HiddenSettings7, as available from Cydia. This unlocks hidden developer settings, which allow you customize Apples own preset animation function. Slowing down the animations by 50% results in the way they should be.

The devices are not slow, Apple has just chosen too slow of a speed for the animation. Shame.

I hope they fix the UI for unlocking your phone, the glow effect is too long and it becomes easy for anyone who's casually looking at your phone to figure it out. Really annoying!

I also wish they'd do something about the video player's UI, and the retarded iPad's calendar UI. Whoever thought that creating small month labels and fading them in and out is a good idea?

I am not a big fan of skeuomorphism; however, I preferred the clarity of the previous UI compared to this overly subtle UI which is closer to looking like a mistake than a feature. Like scrolling through the SMS messages, that's not a bouncing effect, or is it?